KIEV, November 5. /TASS/. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Wednesday Kiev was suspending payments of social benefits for people in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting those territories which he claimed were controlled by terrorists needed subsidies worth 19.6 billion hryvnia ($1.51 billion) for the Donetsk region and 14.6 billion hryvnia ($1.12 billion) for the Luhansk region.

Kiev would continue to supply gas and electricity to the regions, but “so long as the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions are controlled by "imposters", the central budget will not send funding there,” Yatsenyuk said.